Cholera in clams

An outbreak of cholera has hit the Tokyo region of Japan. The disease was first noted around 25 August, when 21 people who had been staying at an inn east of Tokyo complained of food poisoning. Five were found to be harbouring cholera bacteria. Three days later, a 72-year-old woman died with symptoms similar to those of cholera.

A special team set up to track down the source of the infection soon discovered that the victims had all eaten clams. The investigators are now fairly sure that the cholera bacteria arrived through a shipment of clams from Korea, where an outbreak of cholera has claimed four lives in the past month. The Japanese health department refuses to confirm the source, saying it could have come from elsewhere in Asia.

By last weekend, about 20 cases of the disease had been confirmed in Japan.

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